July 10, 2002

Road America Wrap-Up:

KnightHawk Racing was Red Hot at Elkhart Lake:

The Knighthawk Racing Gestetner #11 MG Lola LMP675 was truly red hot at Road America for the 500 mile American Le Mans race this past weekend. The car caught fire twice, once on a fuel stop in the morning warm-up and again in the race while Chad was at the wheel. The fuel fire was apparently was a result of miscommunication between the crew during a practice stop.

In the race it wasn't quite as simple as a crew error. While running eighth about fourty minutes into the race, Chad had over a one minute lead on the next LMP 675 car and was pulling 5-6 seconds every lap. When all of the sudden...

"Mike Gromkey our lead technician came over the radio and I heard him say 'there is a reported fire at the back of the car.' Problem was that we had been having severe radio communication problems all week, so I couldn't make out everything he was saying. I just kept an eye on my mirrors but didn't see anything so I continued to come around and into the pits. By the time I stopped in our stall the small oil fire, which we later found was caused by a loose coupling on the turbo, had subsided. The team proceeded to take the car back to the pits to make the appropriate repairs."

After approximately 40 minutes went by the car was returned to pit lane, and Chad was again back on the tarmac. At that point a yellow came out and he found himself directly behind the pace car after the lead audi's pitted under the yellow.

"I was the first car behind the Solara pace car so it was exciting to get to do a restart. When we got the green the 3rd place panoz and the two Audi R8 factory cars were directly behind me. I held them off for a complete lap and then some. We had been having boost problems all weekend which was causing us to lose massive chute speed to the other prototypes, but it was fun to be able to hold them at bay."

Not too long after Chad turned the driving duties over to Mel Hawkins and then later Steve Knight. The team made up over 10 laps on the 24 lap deficit they incurred while being in the pits for repairs which placed them 3rd in class.

"It was a little disapointing to have another mechanical problem with the MG Lola, it seems like almost a given at this point. We will just have to go at it again at Washington DC in two weeks. This finish has tied Knighthawk for first in the points Championship so I am happy for them, but I still want to win. We have two ALMS races together resulting in a second and a third. I need to thank Gestetner and Knighthawk for giving me this opportunity it has been a blast. Hopefully we can stand at the top of the podium in Washington, DC."

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The Washington, DC race will air live on NBC Sports at 1pm Eastern time Sunday July 21st. Tune in to see if Chad and the Knighthawk Team can steal the top podium spot in the short 2 hr and 45mins sprint race.

Stay Tuned!!
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